• Elizabeth Beardsall

    The Life And Testimony Of Elizabeth Beardsall

    Elizabeth Ann Beardsall, of Woolsthorpe died April 13th, 1867. She was born at Nottingham, Jan. 18th, 1845. Her parents removed to Grantham, and she then attended with them at Castlegate Chapel. They left Grantham in 1861, and she then went to reside with an aunt, at Nottingham, and attended at the room in Thurland Street. In February, 1866, a way opened for her to go to Bradford, Yorkshire. She went on the 15th, and on the 19th I received a letter from her, from which the following is an extract: "'Dear Mother, I have found a chapel, just the right one. It is a very nice one, and there is an excellent minister. A Mr. Vaughan preaches twice on a Lord's day, and in the…

  • John Collis

    The Life And Ministry Of John Collis

    When about ten years old, his father enlisted into the army, and soon afterwards his mother died, when John went to live with an uncle, who treated him with great unkindness, his food being of the commonest kind. The treatment he met with was the means of driving him away from his uncle's, to seek a home elsewhere. Being of a gay and lively disposition and under no restraint, he ran into great lengths of sin and folly, the remembrance of which gave him much distress, and made him feel greatly ashamed through life. His companions were of the most debased kind. One incident will show their character. They went one Lord's day to a place of worship, the pews of which were very high-backed,…

  • Don Fortner,  Jared Smith On Various Issues

    The Salvation Testimony Of Don Fortner

    In May of 2019, the New Focus Conference was held at Gornal Baptist Church, Robert Street, in Dudley, West Midlands, England. Among the speakers was Don Fortner. He prefaced his sermon with a personal testimony on how the Lord brought his soul to a saving knowledge of Christ. Unknown to me at the time, my wife recorded the two minute testimony, for which I am forever grateful; not only to have a record of his testimony in his own voice, but to know that my grandfather, Jewell Smith, was the preacher under whom the Lord was pleased to open his understanding to the grace of God. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has not only put me into the ministry, but has been pleased…

  • George Ella's Biographical Sketches

    James Petigru Boyce (1827-1888): The Forgotten Baptist

    When Christian conversation comes round to the topic of Systematic and Historical Theology, everybody seems to have a favourite. The first major theological book I ever owned on the subject was Berkof’s Systematic Theology given to me by my mother almost forty-five years ago. His Historical Theology soon followed. I then read Sheldon, Fisher, Bicknell, Gibson, Griffith Thomas, Dagg, the Hodges, Bavinck, Dabney, Shedd and others whose names I have long forgotten. I never forgot Berkof and still turn to him regularly for guidance. In recent years, however, he has received some earnest competition. In 1998, during a visit to a Founders’ Conference in Mansfield, Texas, I was given a copy of J. P. Boyce’s Abstract of Systematic Theology. When I confessed my ignorance of…

  • Joseph Tanner

    The Life And Ministry Of Joseph Tanner

    For some little time before his last short but severe illness, he had been unusually better in health, and remarked to a dear friend, with whom he was walking from chapel on the last Sunday he ever left his home, how much better and stronger he felt; and his voice in preaching that day was observed to be particularly clear and full. He preached in the morning from Job 5:17, 18. On Tuesday morning, Jan. 22nd, he was seized with his last fatal attack, commencing at first with every symptom of a severe cold and bilious sickness, accompanied by spasmodic pain; but he was able to sit up until evening, when his bed was warmed and he went to it, never more to rise. Having…

  • Richard Healy Snr.

    The Life And Testimony Of Richard Healy Snr.

    Richard Healy, of Ashwell, near Oakham, Rutland, died Nov. 28th, 1863. There having been a brief account of my late dear husband's life and death on the wrapper of the "Gospel Standard" for December, 1863, some may judge this further Obituary not called for; but the solicitations of some with whom he stood in church fellowship to see it in the body of the "Standard," corresponding with my own feelings and wishes, I desire, with godly fear, to give a short memoir of what I know and recollect of his Christian experience, though I have only a very failing memory to help me. Richard Healy was born at Wymondham, Rutland, Nov. 28th, 1798. His parents were members of the Established Church, and his mother very…